Trade-union selfishness (bis)
I was planning to elaborate the last item on trade-union selfishness, but I haven't got much time the last month and a lot of things have happened.
The so-called generations' pact was amended by the government after a general strike of the socialist trade union. During this strike, people that wanted to work (and were probably no members of that trade union) were refused entry to factories and even whole areas. A guy in Sint-Truiden that wanted to drive to his house in an industrial area and that didn't want to show his identification was dragged out of his car, his keys taken away. Who do those people think they are? They have no right to infere with freedom of passage. They are always talking hot air about the right to strike, but what about the right to work? Or the right to not let your company go broke?
Than the reason for the strike... Social security as it is now, is unpayable. Multinationals are leaving the country because of the high labour costs. The increasingly smaller labour force has to pay for more and more people that don't work: the sick, the unemployed and the elderly. Everyone, from economic analysts to the OECD has said that more people in Belgium should work. This means two things: more unemployed should get a job and the people that work, should work longer.
Apparently, these are two things the socialist trade union does NOT want. They are not a union of workers and people that want to work. They want to keep as much people without a job, because the socialist socio-political segment, especially in Wallonia, is flourishing because of the clientelism to those people. They don't want to create jobs, except for state jobs they can assign themselves as a favour. The metal workers' federation claims they are doing heavy work that cannot be done till the age of 65. Okay, I can imagine that; but teachers don't want the age for early retirement going from 56 to 58, because their job is too exhausting. Come on. Be reasonable. This is pure generation selfishness. Pensions now can be still be paid by putting a more and more heavy burden on the 'working class', but who is going to pay for our pensions in 35 years? Sweden has retirement on 67, the new German government is planning the same. People are getting older and older. People that are now in their 20s, are likely to get older than 90. Now it's about 80. That means ten years more to pay for. Is working two years more so bad then? No, it isn't.
The generation's pact is not going far enough. It should force more people to work. But the government cannot and doesn't want to take its responsabilities. And that is why this country and this society go to hell...

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